What are the secrets to properly string a Rick 12 string?

[markthemd]

First of all ,this is not that tough ,but these are the steps that Brian Carman and Bill Meyers showed me when I was 'promoted' to checkout and assemble in the factory .

As most of you have the 'R' tailpiece ,I will use that -first to illustrate this procedure.

We started by placing a piece of masking tape on the underside of the 'R' ,across the teeth area.
We anchored it by burnishing one side (That way it would not come off by mistake during this process)The area of the teeth was left finger tight .
We loaded the strings into the tailpiece ,starting at the anchored side and working our way across the teeth.Then we anchored the other side well.DO NOT 'burnish this tape across the teeth area -it will need to be removed later!

We strung the outside E strings first to keep a balance on the 'R' tailpiece.It rocks side to side as you tune ,no doubt you have already noticed this!
When you get to the strings that go on the tuners that are in the 'slots',this is the trick.

Cut the string (say we are on the low E octave) ,two tuners past the tuner it will go into.

Bend the end of the string at a 90 degree angle with about 1/8" to 3/16" of a string bent over.

When you wind the slot tuners ,wrap the string evenly and wind the string to the OUTSIDE of the headstock .This helps to keep the string pressure off the nameplate and the angle of the string pushes back against the previous wraps of string and 'Squeezes' the string.

Go to the next string,it should be the high E slot string .Cut it two tuners past the tuner it goes to.Bend the end and wrap to the outside of the headstock.

Next the A standard,then the B ,then the A octave then the slot B .....go side to side as you string .

Put tension on the strings as you install them.

After ALL the strings are on,cut the tails off the tuner strings that are mounted 'STANDARD' style.

Now ....Tune the Standard strings first .

Then the E and B slot strings

Save the G octave for the end ....just keep tension on it for now.

Tune the octaves

Now grab the pairs of strings and stretch them out,give them a yank at the nut area and work your way down to the bridge .You won't be able to actually grab them at the nut or bridge ....but you should be able to understand this and pull on them .

Now retune the Standard strings first ,then the high E and the B.
Then the octave strings.

The G octave ,because of pitch and size will be the first string to break and the easiest string to break.That is why we left it for last .

I really don't stretch this string out very much.
The others I want to seat very well.

Now remove the tape.And you are finished .

I have done this to every 12 string that I have worked on since 1973 and have tried other methods .This is the only one that works for me.
I have seen sloppy versions of this and I have seen versions that are haphazard ,The Jefferson Airplane /Starship had troubles with this to the point of spending lots of time tuning on stage.

After I worked on Paul Kantners 12 strings ...this stopped .

It has been years since I have worked on his 12 strings ,but I am in the Seattle area and he is still in San Francisco .So I have no idea about what he is currently doing .However Geoff Grace ,who was the roadie when I met Paul,liked this method ...it solved all kinds of stage tuning troubles.

[markthemd]

Have any of you guys tried this since I posted this ?

Let me know if / when you do ...please.

[ted_williams]

I've been using this method ever since my 12-string became my main guitar (and I had to change strings more often). I believe I first found this method in the AGR FAQ.

[justonwo]

Works like a charm!